4:52 PM,
Feb. 14, 2013

Rebecca Boles dancing with her father, Daniel Ward, 26 years ago on her wedding day.

Written by

Becca Boles
General Manager of Bella Bride

I fondly refer to my wedding day as a simple gathering of 800 of our nearest and dearest friends.

I was the last child of two local school teachers to get married, and because my parents seemed to know everyone in town, we had a slight problem culling down the list of invitees. But that was fine with me. I have always been "the bigger, the better" kind of girl.

For my Dad, who was stroking the check, it was the reason he had to work an extra year to retire. ...